December 16 gangrape: Supreme Court to hear convicts’ plea today

Delhi gangrape case: The trial court had in September 2013 awarded death sentences to the convicts.

All the convicts moved the apex court in 2014, which stayed their execution.

Supreme Court will on Monday hear the plea filed by the four convicts in December 16 gangrape case. The convicts Vinay Sharma (23), Akshay Thakur (31), Mukesh (29) and Pawan Gupta (22) were awarded death sentence by a trial court in September 2013 and six months later the Delhi High Court upheld their conviction and sentence. All the convicts then approached the Supreme Court which had in 2014 stayed their execution and the matter is pending in the top court since then.

Two of the four death-row convicts had earlier written to Chief Justice TS Thakur and Justice Deepak Misra, stating that they do not approve of the defence counsel appointed by the court to argue their case before the top court as they had given statements against them to the media in the past.

Six people, including a juvenile, had assaulted a paramedic in a moving bus in South Delhi. Later, the accused threw out the victim and her male friend at an isolated spot. She died in a Singapore hospital on December 29, 2012, triggering nation-wide protests that resulted in giving more teeth to laws related to rape and other forms of sexual harassment.